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AJAC Awards Shortlist Down To Six Rides

TORONTO (CNW) — Six vehicles edged closer Monday to being named 2018 Canadian Car of the Year and 2018 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).

Mazda will be hopeful for an accolade as three of the automaker’s new vehicles made the final cut.

This year, voting was expanded to include all new vehicles available to Canadian buyers — not just those vehicles new to the market.

For the first time, nearly 100 of AJAC’s voting journalists were able to directly score vehicles against their competition, whether they were all-new for 2018 or returning popular models.

Almost 3,000 ballots were cast on 182 vehicles.

“If we drove them, then we had an opinion on them,” said an AJAC press release. “And we passed that opinion on through an anonymous system of standardized voting to determine which vehicles are the best of them all.”

The three cars and three utility vehicles were chosen in a separate, second round of voting by AJAC’s journalists from the 14 vehicles that were named the best in their segments earlier this year at the Montreal Auto Show.

The voting process was a simple one: AJAC members were asked which of the segment-winning vehicles they’d driven and experienced most deserve to be named the best car and utility vehicle for 2018.

The three cars in the final running are the Honda Accord (best large car in Canada), Mazda 3 (best small car in Canada), and Volvo S90/V90 (best large premium car in Canada).

The three utility vehicles in the final running are the Chrysler Pacifica (best minivan in Canada), Mazda CX-5 (best small utility vehicle in Canada), and Mazda CX-9 (best large utility vehicle in Canada).

All six will be on stage Feb. 15 at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto for the announcement of the winners.

The results are a closely-guarded secret, known only to the auditing firm of KPMG.

The announcement and presentations will take place in the John Bassett Theatre at 8 a.m.

ABOUT AJAC

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada is an association of professional journalists, writers, photographers, and corporate members whose focus is the automobile and the Canadian automotive industry.

Its primary objectives are to promote, encourage, support and facilitate professionalism in Canadian automotive journalism and to ensure factual and ethical reporting about the automobile and automotive issues to Canadian consumers.